In an eventful game on Friday, Switzerland defeated Serbia 3-2 to go to the round of 16 and face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal. After Brazil, whose significantly altered team lost 1-0 to Cameroon but still advanced to face South Korea, the Swiss came in second place in Group G.
The Swiss took the lead at Stadium 974 thanks to a deflected shot from Xherdan Shaqiri, but Serbia drew even thanks to a powerful header from Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Prior to halftime, Breel Embolo scored an equalizer after Dusan Vlahovic had given Serbia the lead.
The Swiss advanced to the knockout rounds for the fourth time in five World Cups thanks to Remo Freuler’s outstanding goal early in the second half.
The 2018 tournament encounter between the clubs was marred by animosity as goals were celebrated by Granit Xhaka and Shaqiri with pro-Kosovo gestures that infuriated the Serbs.
After Serbia requested for a penalty in the second half on Friday, tensions erupted, and around 15 minutes later, the stadium announcer demanded an end to “all discriminatory chants and gestures.”
Switzerland, who controlled their own fate, came close to scoring inside the first thirty seconds, but Embolo’s shot was successfully stopped by Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, who also palmed away Xhaka’s follow-up.
Andrija Zivkovic of Serbia struck the goalpost with a long, lovely curling shot, and Vlahovic bundled the rebound right into Gregor Kobel’s arms.
